Dreams do come true. Just ask Dr. Krishna Gandotra.
Since 1996, she’s been helping keep service members healthy as the physican-in-charge at the Fort McNair Army Health Clinic on Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall.
“I honestly enjoy this clinic so much,” she said. “I look forward to coming to work every day.”
After more than 20 years at the clinic, Gandotra will retire on June 30.
She’s quick to share her philosophy about how she treats her service member patients.
“I treat my patients the same way,” she said. “Rank doesn’t make any difference. I’m a very simple person. I treat my patients like they are my family members.”
Gandotra added, “I treat the patient as a whole. Every patient I know how many children they have. I’m like a family doctor.”
Gandotra laughed as she told the story of receiving her first challenge coin from Army Maj. Gen. Robert Foley, who she saw as a patient when he commanded the MDW in 1998.
“He put the coin in my hand and I looked at it,” she said. “I gave it back. I said, Sir, I don’t need it.”
Foley asked Gandotra if she was returning his coin.
“I said, Sir, I don’t take any money from my patients. I am being paid,” Gandotra said. “He said, This is for a job well done.’”
Foley had Dr. Gandotra’s name engraved on the coin. A letter of appreciation from Foley, along with the challenge coin, is mounted on a frame in Gandotra’s office today. It sits alongside numerous photos of other MDW commanders, as well as pictures of Gandotra with former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
From India to America
Almost from birth, Gandotra dreamed of becoming a doctor. The sixth of 10 children, Krishna Sagar was born in remote, rural farming village in northwestern India.
“I wanted to become a doctor so bad,” she said. “Every time I went to the doctor, I said, My God. He helps people.”
Like in so many families in India at that time, girls were not supposed to continue their education past middle school.
“All of my sisters were married when they were 15 and 16 years old,” Gandotra said.
Gandotra’s principal saw the spirit, fire and drive that dwelled within her and begged her father to send her to high school. She responded by becoming the number one ranked student in her district.
“My father would not send me to college, because girls were not supposed to go to college,” she said. “It was so hard. It’s not his fault. In the village, it was not considered a honor for the family for girls to go out and go to college and do a job.”
A distant relative encouraged Gandotra to enroll in college and she graduated as a pharmacist.
She helped to financially support her family following her father’s retirement and was determined that her siblings should also attend college. In order to encourage one of her brothers to pursue his education, Gandotra enrolled her brother in a Hindu college where they both studied political science.
The wind beneath her wings
While pursuing this second degree, her brother introduced her to one of his professors, Ramesh Gandotra, for some private tutoring. It was love at first sight.
“I am today where I am because of him,” she said. “If I am successful, it is because of him. He is the best husband, the best provider.”
The couple were wed in 1974 and came to the United States in 1976 after Gandotra saw news reports that said there was a shortage of pharmacists in this country.
“We came with two suitcases,” she said. ”You have to have the determination to do certain things.”
Gandotra said her husband took care of their children for eight years while she attended medical school. Following her graduation and residency, Gandotra went to work as a emergency room staff physician at Fort Meade. She also became board certified in both internal medicine and emergency medicine before coming to Fort McNair.
And in her time on the joint base, Gandotra has missed very few work days, even when she was being treated for breast cancer several years ago.
“I learned so much here,” she said. “I’m going to miss my patients.”
Pentagram Staff Writer Julia LeDoux can be reached at jledoux@dcmilitary.com.